I recently sold both my Canon T1i and SD780is cameras and all accessories, in order to switch to one medium sized camera.

My budget is around $350, and I narrowed my choices to four cameras:
Olympus PEN E-PL2, Canon S100, Sony DSC-HX20V, and Panasonic DMC-GF3.

Please help me decide, I'm without a camera now and I'd really like to make up my mind!
The most important things to me right now is:
1) Fast speeds (autofocus, power up to shot, times between shots, couldn't find good info on this)
2) Good low-light performance

I found my self losing a shot many times due to a slow reacting/starting/focusing camera (or unassembled SLR), and I want a camera that performs FAST and responds as instantly as possible.

If this is a straight shoot out where speed is concerned, I'd say the GF3 wins the day,closely followed by the E-PL2.
The Sony and the Canon have quick burst modes- around 10fps, but this burst only lasts for a second or so.
Start up times,shot to shot times,continuous shooting,AF speeds,flash recycle times etc are all superior with the GF3 and the E-PL2 over the "compact" rivals.
The S100 and the HX20v aren't slow by any means,however- the Canon is ready for a pic in 2.1 seconds and the Sony in 1.8 secs. AF speeds are good by compact standards,the Sony quicker than the Canon by a small margin and is more or less on a par with the GF3 in this arera.
If you scroll down this review of the GF3, you'll see the list of various timings...http://www.ephotozine.com/article/pa...s-review-17054

Ok so down to GF3 or E-PL2.
It's been almost two years since the E-PL2 has been released and about a year and a half since the GF3. Wondering if I should wait a few months for a new model or just buy now.

I plan on buying by the end of the month, right now I am left only with my smartphone camera

I'll try Best Buy to see if they have any of these on display so I can actually get a feeling for it.

At the end of this month, Sept 18th to the 23rd, the largest Photography show in the world called Photokina will be taking place in Germany. It is the venue where most camera manufacturers announce new cameras and other related products. It is a great time to buy "last years" model at discount because typically, after a new a camera is released, the older units are available at significant discounts.

If you can hold off, I wouldn't be surprised to see Olympus' E-P3 camera available at a much lower price. Which, by the way, has a significantly faster auto focus system than the E-PL2 in addition to a whole host of other improvements.

Thanks a lot Zig! That's really good info for me. I will take your advise and wait until the end of the month to buy my camera.

By the way just came back from Best Buy, out of the cameras they only had the Sony HX20V, and I was impressed by how fast it is. I compared is to a Canon SX260 they had on display as well. But then again, I didn't use any of the other cameras on my list.